Blink-182’s ‘Dude Ranch’ Is an Actual Ranch Sauce

Blink-182's Dude Ranch was a highly influential album, but its reach has now gone to a place you might not expect -- the salad bar.

The band's popular album title helped to inspire the name of a student-run company at UCLA that plans to brand a new vegan salad dressing. The brand will make its official debut Jan. 17 at a release party in Westwood.

Co-founder Megan Hullander told The Daily Bruin that while she is not vegan, her love for the environment and interest in vegan lifestyles led her and co-founder Angela Simmons to make a vegan ranch recipe.

“We tried to make it as Earth-friendly as possible and as healthy as we possibly could, and get all the ingredients while still maintaining the taste,” Hullander said. “We started out making recipes that we found, and then just replaced ingredients to use ones that were either more sustainable, or added things we thought would be good for flavor.”

Simmons, a geography and environmental studies student, said she used her expertise to contribute to the sustainable goal of Dude Ranch, with the brand attempting to avoid contributing to drought conditions by eliminating dairy from the recipe. By doing so, Dude Ranch is eliminating the vast amounts of water it takes to raise dairy cows.

“I think it is the sustainability that makes it important,” Hullander said. “Because even if things are vegan, they’re generally thought to be better for the environment, but there’s a lot more to it than that.”

Simmons says the recipe manages to find alternatives for ingredients such as mayonnaise and buttermilk, replacing them with vegan mayonnaise and soaked cashews and adding hints of parsley, dill, fresh garlic cloves and other spices.

“It’s pretty packed with flavor but it’s not overwhelming,” Simmons said. “So it’s a really good balance between this crazy flavor, (but) you can enjoy carrots, or pita bread, or whatever you want to put your ranch on, and it doesn’t take away from the flavor of the food.”

The two students are still building their company with hopes to branch out beyond the vegan Dude Ranch dressing, all while keeping environmental sustainability in mind for their products.

With so many acts jumping on the alcohol and hot sauce branding, could salad dressing be the next frontier? Time will tell.